The White House asked federal agencies on Wednesday to prepare plans for mass firings during a possible government shutdown next week, marking a sharp departure from the temporary furloughs of workers typically seen during past shutdowns.
The White House’s Office of Management and Budget (OMB) sent the memo on Wednesday to federal agencies and asked them to identify programmes, projects and activities where discretionary funding will lapse on October 1 if the US Congress does not pass legislation to keep the federal government open.
“Programmes that did not benefit from an infusion of mandatory appropriations will bear the brunt of a shutdown,” the OMB said in the memo, which the White House provided.
It was not immediately clear whether the White House was trying to take advantage of the shutdown to advance President Donald Trump’s push to slash the federal workforce, or whether it was a high-stakes negotiating tactic to force Democrats to agree to pass the Republicans’ funding legislation.
Agencies were told to submit their proposed reduction-in-force plans to the OMB and to issue notices to employees even if they would otherwise be excepted or furloughed during a lapse in funding.
The OMB memo was earlier reported by Politico.
Federal downsizing